$8 Million In Fake Bills Seized

Suspects Admit Quality Not Good

April 28, 1985|United Press International

MAIMI — U.S. Secret Service agents have seized $8 million in phony $100 bills and arrested two ``known international counterfeiters`` who hoped to export the money to South America, officials said Saturday.

Also seized in the arrest Friday were about 80 printing plates and negatives used in the money`s production, negatives for Colombian pesos and three counterfeit British 20 pound notes, Special Agent Ronald Szego said.

The Secret Service arrested Christobal Saradetch, 42, a Guatemalan citizen, and Uri Paz, 44, an Israeli, after they attempted to sell the money to an undercover agent at a northwest Miami apartment complex, Szego said.

Szego, sitting behind a table piled high with the brand new bills, called the counterfeiting job ``at best fair`` and added the bills were to be ``aged with tea or coffee,`` to make them appear more realistic before they were to be passed in South America.

``The pair indicated the quality of notes that they were normally printing was much better than this, but they were unfamiliar with American equipment.

The two had conterfeited U.S. currency in England and Colombia prior to arriving in Miami in April to try out American-made printing equipment, Szego said. The two have been involved in counterfeiting for the past 20 years, he added.

Much of the money still needed serial numbers, and the completed bills all bore the numbers B 06826664A. Apparently none of the phony money had been sold or circulated prior to the arrest.

The two hoped to sell the money for 10 percent of its face value, of which they share was to be about $500,000.

Szego said the impact on traffic in counterfeit money would be ``franky a zero dent.``

The bill were printed on an ordinary offset press and the plates were produced by a photographic process. It had taken the pair about two weeks to print the bills in a local Miami print shop.

The well-made British 20 pound notes were samples for future deals, and agents said the source of the English money is the object on an ``ongoing investigation.``